Five riders most likely to win a Grand Tour in the coming years

What a sensational talent French cycling and Decathlon have on their hands. The 19-year-old had an excellent 2025 neo-pro season, which featured some remarkable results including a top ten in Il Lombardia and bronze medal at the European championships, behind two of the best riders in cycling. He also handled the weight of expectation to win the Tour de l'Avenir and he impressed at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Not bad for your first professional season, is it? 

Decathlon has now taken full majority ownership of the French team, as AG2R end their 28-year involvement in the realm of professional cycling, and it is reported that the revamped squad will now have a budget in the region of €40 million, with the goal of winning the Tour de France and sitting within the top three of the UCI rankings by 2028. 

It seems Decathlon are truly laying all their chips on the table to give it a real shot at winning a Grand Tour GC in the coming years, most likely with their 'super-talent' Seixas.

What really impressed this year was Seixas' mental fortitude, and that never-say-die attitude was evident at the Critérium du Dauphiné where he climbed the final ascent of Mont Cenis with crooked handlebars after a minor incident on the climb. 

The dream of winning the Tour by 2028 is complicated by the dominance of Tadej Pogacar, who won the this year even with an apparent knee injury. But Seixas' age profile means that he has ample time, and might only start hitting his Grand Tour-winning window in five years' time.

Juan Ayuso is without a doubt a tremendous talent after bursting onto the scene at the 2022 Vuelta a España with a third place in the general classification, he is yet to achieve a podium since then. He has now left UAE for pastures new at Lidl-Trek after what was something of a soap opera at the end of his time at the team. 

With a fresh start at Lidl-Trek, Ayuso will be hoping he can get back to his absolute best and fulfil the flashes of potential he has shown over his pro career. There is a real rider in there to be unlocked and it will be an interesting to see if Lidl-Trek can find the key to the the best Ayuso possible. 

At UAE, it was obvious that Ayuso would never have the opportunity to be the main character, but Lidl-Trek's investment in a five-year deal means Ayuso is surely the number one GC rider ahead of Mattias Skjelmose, who was not even notified prior about the signing before it was announced.

We expect Ayuso to have a real crack at winning a Giro d'Italia or a Vuelta a España, but the Tour is complicated with Pogacar still in his pomp.

In truth, we should already be talking about Isaac del Toro as a Grand Tour winner, but the Giro d'Italia escaped his grasp in mind boggling circumstances on the penultimate day. 

To be frank, Del Toro deserved to win the 2025 Giro, but the maddening beauty of cycling is that things don't always work like that. The 21-year-old was assured throughout the Giro, winning a stage and collecting a number of second places, including one after an epic scrap with Wout van Aert in Siena. Now he will be aiming to build on this experience for his future Grand Tour endeavours. 

In a recent interview, Del Toro revisited that fateful stage 20 over the Finestre. “I think I’d do it differently now, but I made mistakes, some of them from inexperience," he said. This willingness to learn from mistakes bodes well for Del Toro's future Grand Tour chances. 

Many riders would have dwelled indefinitely on that heartbreak of losing the Giro in those circumstances, but Del Toro simply pushed on and went on a winning rampage for the rest of 2025. All signs now point to a full-scale bid for the maglia rosa at the 2026 Giro. A story of redemption in the making?

Florian Lipowitz, like many of the riders mentioned previously, had a wonderful 2025 season. The young German took home podium finishes from the Tour de France, Paris-Nice and Critérium du Dauphiné. 

His most impressive performance out of those races was at the Tour itself, where Lipowitz showed tremendous race craft being able to get himself involved in the fights with Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard towards the back end of the race. 

His individual time trial performances were also excellent, as Lipowitz finished sixth in the pan flat run to Caen and fourth on the mountain test to Peyragudes. Even in this new era of cycling, the ability to perform in time trials remains the back bone to any Grand Tour challenge, and Lipowitz's skills in this department bode well.

With the addition of Remco Evenepoel at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, it remains to be seen how the team will approach the Tour in the years ahead. For 2026, mind, Lipowitz has already ruled out the Giro and set his sights on the Tour. The new star man at Red Bull Evenepoel will surely be be there too, and there is also the dilemma of Primož Roglič, who eyes a fifth Vuelta title in 2026. Finding space at the revamped Red Bull won't be easy, but Lipowitz will get his shot at winning Grand Tours in 2026 and beyond.

João Almeida came on leaps and bounds in 2025 , finishing second in the Vuelta a España, 1:16 behind the winner, Jonas Vingegaard and he can look back on in fondness on some stages in particular. One that immediately stands out is his monstrous performance on L'Angliru, where he went on to win the stage after pulling for the majority of the climb. 

Almeida was perhaps also unlucky in the Vuelta where the stage 18 time trial was shortened due to security concerns amid human rights protests in solidarity with Palestine. The Portuguese might have gained even further time on Vingegaard, but it wasn't to be, and he was finally distanced by his rival at Bola del Mundo on the final weekend. 

With the experience of competing for Grand Tour victory now in his locker, Almeida can look to build on the solid foundations that he has laid himself for potentially another shot at the Vuelta in the near future - but it will all depend on the schedule of the almighty Pogačar.